Cristophe wrote:
> Well, as I promised last week, here is a review of the pronominal system
of
> "Roumant", where will be dealt such issues as the demonstrative pronouns
and
> adjectives (quite unusual for a Romance language I think), the
interrogative,
> exclamative and relative pronouns and adjectives. The personal pronouns,
> possessive pronouns and adjectives, and finally the so-called indefinite
> pronouns and adjectives will be dealt in the next post (because I'm
lacking time
> right now :( ).
OK, lemme see!
> THE DEMONSTRATIVES:
>
> The demonstratives pronouns:
> Demonstratives have three levels of deixis (this/that/yon).
Looks like Latin. Italian mainly works on 2 levels (questo, quello), but
there is also an archaic sounding 'codesto' for 'yon' (Latin 'iste'). There
is, anyway, an alive distinction between 'lì' (yonder) and 'là' (there
(over,....)).
> The only real
> demonstrative pronouns can be used only to refer to things. They are:
> stecì /st@'si/: this (thing)
> stelì /st@'li/: that (thing)
> stelà /st@'la/: yon (thing)
Mmm... they look like those I use in my dialect:
stu chi /stu'ki/
and
chell li /kEl'li/
They look like derived from Vulgar Latin 'iste hic' /yon here/, 'iste illic'
/yon there/ and 'iste illac' /yon yon (?)/.
> There is also a form ste /st@/ (st' /st/ before a vowel or h + vowel)
whose only
> use is as dummy subject of impersonal verbs (like plouvîre: to rain -> ste
> pleuvet /st@'pl2v/: "it rains") or in expressions like st'ha /'sta/:
"there is",
> and st'êt /'stE/: "it is".
'St'ha' roughly means 'il y à'(sp?), isn't it? Cool, this. Haven't seen in
Romance langs yet. Hey, I must be a dumb. Since we are at
pronominal/adjectival parts, why haven't I told you Sardinian has the
coolest article I've ever seen amongst Romance langs? It's derived from
'ipse': su, sa. ex.: sa oche /sa Oke/(the voice).
> There are no real demonstrative pronouns to refer to living creatures.
Instead
> are used the third person emphatic pronouns, followed by the adverbs cì,
lì or
> là (connected to the pronoun by a hyphen). Thus we obtain the different
forms:
> lui-cì /'lHisi/: this one (masc. sg.)
> lui-lì /'lHili/: that one (masc. sg.)
> lui-là /'lHila/: yon one (masc. sg.)
> lei-cì /'lEsi/: this one (fem. sg.)
> lei-lì /'lEli/: that one (fem. sg.)
> lei-là /'lEla/: yon one (fem. sg.)
> lorr-cì /'lOrsi/: these ones (pl.)
> lorr-lì /'lOrli/: those ones (pl.)
> lorr-là /'lOrla/: yons (?) ones (pl.)
OK, this happens in Italian as well.
> The demonstrative adjectives:
> As for demonstrative pronouns referring to living things, there are no
real
> demonstrative adjectives. Instead, the definite articles (e, a, ès and as)
are
> used in conjunction with the adverbs cì, lì and là. The adverbs can be put
after
> the noun (then they are connected to it with a hyphen) or before the
article, in
> which case they are truncated in c' /s/ for cì and l' /l/ for both lì and
là (we
> thus lose this distinction). Both a lingue-cì /a'lE~gsi/ and c'a lingue
> /sa'lE~g/ thus mean: "this language".
>
> THE INTERROGATIVES AND EXCLAMATIVES:
>
> The interrogative pronouns:
> To ask about people, one uses the interrogative pronoun queum /k9~/: who?
which
> has a plural form queumz /k9~/ (the difference is heard only in case of
> liaison). About things, one uses qué /ke/: what?, and about abstract
matters one
> uses que /k@/: what? (which is truncated into qu' /k/ in front of a vowel
or h +
> vowel).
This looks like French or Occitan.
> To propose a choice, you use the pronoun e quêou /@'kEu/: which one? which
> agrees in gender and number with the the understated noun:
> e quêou /@'kEu/: masc. sg.
> ès quêoux /E'kEu/: masc. pl.
> a quêle /a'kEl/: fem.sg.
> as quêles /a'kEl/: fem.pl.
Italian 'quale'
> The interrogative and exclamative adjective:
> It is identical for interrogation and exclamation, means "what?, which?,
or
> what!" and agrees with the completed noun in gender and number. It is:
> quêou /'kEu/: masc. sg.
> quêoux /'kEu/: masc. pl.
> quêle /'kEl/: fem.sg.
> quêles /'kEl/: fem.pl.
>
> THE RELATIVES:
>
> The relative pronouns:
> cue /k@/: that (which is cu' /k/ in front of a vowel or h + vowel) is
employed
> when the antecedent is expressed, when the relative subclause is not
separated
> from it with a comma, and when the relative pronoun is object of the verb
of the
> relative subclause. In any other case, you have to employ cueum /k9~/:
who(m)
> for people (cueumz in plural) and cué /ke/: which for things. When the
relative
> subclause is separated from the antecedent with a comma, you can also use
the
> form e cuêou /@'kEu/ which forms correspond to those of the interrogative
> pronoun e quêou.
> Also, when the antecedent is not expressed, you have to use:
> - for things, the neuter article o followed by the relative pronoun needed
(cué
> or cue),
> - for persons, the third person emphatic pronouns lui, lei or lorr,
followed by
> the relative pronoun need (cueum(z) or cue).
>
> The relative adjective:
> There is only one relative adjective, exactly corresponding to "whose" in
> English. It has the following forms:
> coj /kO/: masc. sg.
> cojs /kO/: masc. pl.
> cojje /kOZ/: fem. sg.
> cojjes /kOZ/: fem. pl.
>
> The adverbial relative pronouns:
> They are adverbial forms used as relatives, which are equivalent to a
group
> "preposition + relative". They cannot be used if the antecedent is a
person.
> They are:
> cuend /ka~/: when (equivalent to â + relative, with temporal meaning)
> óv /o/: where, to which (equivalent to â + relative, with spatial or other
> meaning)
> ennóv /a~'no/: where, at which (equivalent to em + relative)
> coj /kO/ (not to be confused with the possessive relative): of which
(equivalent
> to de + relative, except for possession)
>
> Well, next time I'll finish this post about pronouns. Just hang in there!
> there's still a lot to see :)) .
Heyhey, we wanna see the verbal system : )
Luca
> Christophe.
>